Covet Seating

Michael Shields

Michael Shields, principal of StudioThree, has worked as an industrial designer focused on contract office and institutional furniture for over 30 years. Trained as an Industrial Designer, Michael has broad experience designing durable medical equipment, contract healthcare furniture, as well as seating, casegoods, tables, and panel systems for office environments.

After working for Knoll and subsequently leading the design & development teams at Brayton International for 12 years, Michael launched his independent design studio located in central North Carolina. His studio has been successfully providing clients with innovative, award winning design since 2001. With six Best of Neocon awards and over two-dozen patents to his credit, Michael continues to provide “out of the box” concepts. Believing that form truly does follow function, he prefers to improve the way a product works or is manufactured prior to addressing aesthetics. Designing for disassembly, facilitating recycle-ability via single material components, and reduced complexity help reduce costs while fostering environmentally responsible products.

“Conservative contemporary” best describes Michael’s stylistic approach, following a “less is more” path to aesthetic solutions. Examples of Michael’s work for JSI include the “Hedron” linking lounge series, “Newton” and “Protocol” lines of management / conference seating, and “Swish” casegoods for private office to open plan.